Modern piracy is a threat that exists in regions around the world. Unfortunately, modern piracy is not well understood. Maritime law is complex because different nations have different legal maritime standards.
What Is Modern Piracy?
Modern piracy covers a wide spectrum of crime on the high seas and other maritime environments. Modern piracy can encompass:
- Low-level thefts in ports around the world
- Serious, life-threatening armed hijackings of freighters and commercial ships for ransom
Port theft may involve insider threats. For instance, port employees might supply information that leads to stealing by other criminals. Port theft may also include the theft of cargo stored at a port.
What Factors Lead to Piracy?
Some coastal regions that intersect with highly traveled shipping lanes are especially susceptible to modern piracy. This vulnerability is due to several factors:
- Ineffective maritime law enforcement to serve as a deterrent
- Corruption
- Government instability
- A large demand on the black market for stolen goods
How Modern Pirates Work
Modern pirates, armed with machetes or firearms, often operate in small teams and quickly board vessels. Once on board, they seize the ship by taking control of the pilothouse and often round up the ship’s crew to maintain control.
These modern-day pirates often work in conjunction with a mother ship. The mother ship is used for refueling and has a major role in the logistics of modern piracy.
Once in control, the pirates often demand ransoms for the release of the ship or crew, steal the ship’s cargo, or repurpose the vessel. They commonly target commercial ships that carry fuel or oil.
Where Does Modern Piracy Occur?
Some of the common areas where modern piracy occurs include:
- The Horn of Africa
- The Gulf of Aden
- The Arabian Sea
- The Gulf of Guinea and other areas near West Africa
- The Straits of Malacca, the Singapore Strait, and other areas near southeast Asia
- Waters off the Indonesian coast
Why Is Modern Piracy So Dangerous for Seafarers?
Modern piracy threatens maritime security by placing seafarers in dangerous situations. The occupants of a ship or boat are confronted by armed robbers and risk losing their lives, becoming injured, or being held for ransom. If a ship is damaged or sunk, its owners suffer financial losses.
Commercial cargo ships are also targets for violent, armed pirates. These pirates typically hold ships, their cargo or their crews for ransom.
A Personal Encounter with Pirates
During my Coast Guard career, I once responded to a case involving stowaways and modern piracy. Stowaways are often people who hide on commercial freighters, typically for the purpose of illegal immigration. They hide in different areas of large ships but are often detected by ship crews.
In this case, some stowaways emerged out of hiding once the ship was in international waters. At the time, the ship was in the Caribbean and en route to Miami, Florida. The stowaways attempted to take over the ship by holding the ship’s crew hostage.
As the ship entered the Straits of Florida, I was a part of a group involved in a response from several law enforcement agencies. Using helicopters and law enforcement vessels, we surrounded the ship and went on board. Once we were on board, these stowaways surrendered and were arrested.
Modern Piracy Is Growing
The International Chamber of Commerce’sInternational Maritime Bureau (IMB) has a Piracy Reporting Center that tracks both piracy and armed robbery incidents and serves as a 24-hour contact to report attacks.
According to the IMB, there has been an increase in global modern piracy incidents. In 2025, there were 137 incidents compared to 116 in 2024.
The IMB notes that these cases included maritime hijackings as well as incidents involving violence against ships’ crews. They noted the continued risk of hijackings and long-range attacks in areas including East Africa, the Red Sea, and areas around the Gulf of Aden.
What Can Be Done to Prevent Future Attacks?
There are various steps that can be taken to mitigate modern piracy. Increased security measures aboard ships can include the use of:
- Barriers such as sharp wire to prevent criminals from boarding ships
- Reinforced doors difficult to hack through or blow up
- Secure ladders
- Water hoses to spray and push back pirates attempting to board a ship
- Private maritime security forces
- Increased naval coalitions and military responses to areas known to have an increased risk of modern piracy
Pirates continue to be a problem around the world. But with increased surveillance and precautionary measures, more attacks can be prevented and lives can be saved.
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